


Officer Training

by NerdNirdNurd



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Foul Language, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Sexual Predator (Mentioned), Supernatural Cathartica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-04 21:57:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18821539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdNirdNurd/pseuds/NerdNirdNurd
Summary: A Supernatural Cathartica Entry.There are several tropes I’m going to hit with this story.1.  John’s A+ Parenting  as in; he’s a crap father he’s spectacularly unreceptive to criticism or advice, or he's sorta narcissistic (I mean that in a nice way).2. John is toxically closed mouthed with his boys, but he tends to open up with other adults.3.  John leaves the boys with a sexual predator, and doesn’t figure it out for years, if ever.4. John’s annoyance with Sammy’s devotion to books not centered on lore5. This isn’t canon, but, uh...John isn’t a good COI’ve never been in the military. So the references I make are based on what I’ve seen on TV and in movies. If you see something that needs to be corrected, please let me know. None of my stuff is beta’dFor those of you who don’t know, Supernatural Cathartica is all about blowing up the most popular tropes from the show and fan fiction that (sometimes) drive me crazy (and you too, probably).





	Officer Training

A hunt in the Michigan woods went spectacularly wrong. He knew what they were after, what to look for, and about how far into the woods they would have to go to find it. He fully expected to finish the hunt by early afternoon. He was pretty sure the snow storm wouldn’t hit before nightfall. At the least, they had time to find a trail.  
It all went to hell when a blizzard rolled in three hours after John and his boys walked into the forest. It was a complete white out.  
Long story short, they were rescued by local forest rangers a day and a half later. Bobby had the boys at a motel in town because John was sitting in jail for 2 counts of Criminal Endangerment of a Minor and 2 counts of Criminal Negligence of a Minor.  
Even though the hunt was FUBAR, he still counted it as a win. The boys were alive. They were half starved and hypothermic because there wasn’t a lot of dry wood to burn, and a dead tree and pine boughs didn’t provide much shelter, but they were alive.  
A separate hunting party successfully completed the hunt in the days ensuing after the storm. One of the men from that hunting party stuck around and managed to convince the sheriff to release John into his custody for ‘counseling’. That man’s name was Major Dan MacGillis and he and John had a pretty good rapport because they had several things in common. They were both veterans, they were both hunters, and they both hunted with their kids. They had joined up on several hunts in the past.  
Once John had his personal belongings and they had left the police station behind, MacGillis spoke up.

“You and me’re gonna talk, John Winchester. You seem to have forgotten that you are a father, first and foremost.”  
“I don’t need you telling me how to raise my kids.” John said.  
“I noticed the oldest calls you sir.” MacGillis said it conversationally, as if John hadn’t just told him to back off.  
“None of your business if he does.” John retorted. MacGillis paused to watch cross traffic pass.  
“Which suggests to me that you don’t view him as your oldest child, but as a tool of war. A member of your platoon.”  
John didn’t reply. When MacGillis stopped in front of the motel, John jumped out of the truck. Since the passenger door was facing away from the motel, MacGillis beat John to the front door of the motel. The motel had a long, covered front porch, which gave cover from lightly falling snow.  
“I’m not going to talk to you father to father, John.” MacGillis said again speaking as if John hadn’t attempted to walk away from the conversation. “I’m here to talk to you officer to officer. So I’ll start off with this: If we were in the service, and you were under my command, I would have you demoted for the shit show you ran three days ago.”  
MacGillis got the response he wanted. John came to an abrupt stop just before he reached for the door, and boy, did he look pissed off. Good.  
“We aren’t in the service.” John snarled. MacGillis adopted the posture and vocal rhythms of his own former drill sergeant and talked over John.  
“When you go to your grave I will still outrank you, Corporal. For the duration of this conversation, and we are going to have this conversation, Corporal Winchester. This conversation has a goal: to improve your performance as a commanding officer and that of the soldiers under your command. Do you understand?  
“Yes sir.” John said it with great sarcasm then: “How do you know I was a corporal?”  
MacGillis almost smiled, but this was serious business, so he kept his face straight.  
"Focus, John.” MacGillis said. Every time he pulled the ‘I know all about you’ card, he got the same exact question. Best of all, John hadn’t walked away.  
Neither man noticed an open window a few feet away. It was only open a few inches, and brown curtains obscured the occupants inside. Behind those brown curtains, sat a young teenage boy, who at the sound of John Winchester’s voice, had turned the TV down, and had dragged a chair to the window to listen.  
“Do we have to stand outside?” John asked.  
“Yep.” MacGillis replied with a knowing smile. “We are going to talk right here. Your troops don’t need to hear this.” MacGillis said. “Besides. You walked your boys into a snow storm in medium weight jackets. So it can’t possibly be cold enough for the down coat you’ve got on. Take off the coat Corporal. Give it to me, and then we’ll start conversating.”  
John didn’t move a muscle. He just stood there. One minute passed. Two minutes passed. MacGillis held out his hand. John frowned, but he took off the coat and handed it to the Major.  
The audience of one peering through a gap in the curtains watched in slack mouthed shock as the coat was handed over. John stuck his hands in his pants pockets, and MacGillis began to speak.  
“You’re careless with your assets.” The Major said. “There’s no greater sin in a commanding officer than to ignore the needs of your troops. Do you understand where I’m going with this?”  
“I think I might.” John said. He didn’t sound particularly impressed with the direction of the conversation. Dean also noticed that his father wasn’t shivering, but a particularly cold breeze made him stiffen up.  
“Good. I’ll keep it short then, since you seem to know everything there is to know about everything already. I’m sure it’ll just be review for you.” MacGillis said, with an equal amount of disrespect in his own voice.  
“Get on with it.” John growled.  
“There’s more to Command than telling your troops what to shoot at and how to clean their guns: You aren’t just their commanding officer: You are their staff sergeant, you are their drill sergeant, you are their commissary. You are their central command. You are their Weapons Master, You are their reinforcements. Honestly, you should think of yourself as their SOCCOM. It is your responsibility to see that they have what they need when they need it, or in place of that, the training to acquire it.”  
“My assumption, Corporal, is that you don’t know how to be all of these things. Is that a correct assessment?”  
“That is not correct, sir.” John replied. MacGillis’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.  
“Is that so? I happen to know how long you left those boys alone last summer. I know because I passed through Harbor Ferry three times over the course of five weeks. Five. Weeks. Your oldest is a minor with no legal methods of income available to him. So I want you to answer the following: How does a thirteen year old boy come up with four hundred dollars in rent money, without a job? How many days in a row do you figure a kid can steal from the only store in town without getting caught? And who’s giving him food, if he’s not getting it from the store? Even if he can hunt squirrel and rabbit for dinner, I can only think of a couple of ways a boy his age scores four hundred bucks.”  
John’s eyes snapped to MacGillis in shock.  
Dean had a lump In his throat, because now his father would know what he did. There was no good will food bank anywhere near that town. The only church didn't hand out soup or sandwiches or anything, and Sammy was starving. Didn't matter, though, because this was not a good thing. Dean wanted to run out there and stop the conversation, but if Mr. MacGillis could get his dad to start leaving them money to eat, then Dean could deal with the humiliation. But the lump stuck in his throat, and it burned for a long time.  
“Make a plan.” MacGillis said. “If you’re gone for more than one week, have a place for your troops to wait for your return. Since we’re on the subject, and on a personal note, do not take your boys anywhere near Dave Tanner. We’re pretty sure he’s a pedophile. We can’t have a predator in the ranks, preying on our own. Which is why he’s our next stop…“  
Dean laid his head on the window rail in shocked despair. Could this get any worse?  
John’s heart felt like it exploded and all blood flow stopped. The ramifications of what MacGillis said, made John bend over double. He almost started screaming. MacGillis was still talking.  
“If you’re really in a jam, there are plenty of empty cabins around the US…You all right, John?” MacGillis asked. John shook his head. He had straightened up, but he had his hand over his mouth and had to walk in a tight circle before he was calm enough to speak.  
“I left the boys with Tanner last fall.” John choked. “Three weeks. So he could toughen up the youngest. The boy hasn’t come near me since. He wouldn’t even let me stitch him up back in November. I thought…I should’ve figured it out.”  
MacGillis inhaled and exhaled. What he said next was even worse.  
“Then you need to know that Tanner… He likes to hurt his victims. Badly.” MacGillis said.  
John spun away from MacGillis again, horrified that he’d delivered his sons to a monster. It was a long time before John nodded to signal he was back in control of his emotions. MacGillis sighed sadly, then said:  
“Since you learned the hard way, I feel like I shouldn’t say this, and I feel like a real shit saying it right now. But I will anyway, so you can learn.  
“We are not like the monsters we hunt, John. We must maintain that distinction at all times. There are rules of acceptable, human behavior that we will always follow. We do not send our children into the hands of predators just so we can kill monsters. Yes, this is war, and yes, children have historically fought in wars. But we live in a time with cell phones, cheap clothes, cars, heaters and supermarkets, food pantries and homeless shelters. You hear what I’m saying to you? In my mother’s words: just because you’re on a mission doesn’t make any old shit OK. Have a standard, and keep to it. Besides, how stupid would you look if you stoop to their level, kill monsters, then go to hell anyway.”  
John was standing absolutely still. MacGillis spoke to him matter of factly, without judgement. .  
“Your oldest boy is underweight. My guess is he’s starving so he can feed the baby boy. Rectify that. Immediately.”  
Dean decided right then and there that MacGillis was good people.  
"Yes sir.” John said, quietly. The earlier professional disregard for MacGillis was completely gone.  
“You are their HQ. Act like it. You’ve only got a few more years before you can leave them to their own devices; when the oldest can get a legal job.  
“As for now: You just suffered a bad blow, so I won’t keep you too much longer. Use the next few years wisely. Then you can leave Dean to look after Sam when you go out into the field.”  
Silence, again. Then MacGillis said:  
“I know the grief overwhelms you sometimes and killing things takes your mind off of it. It’s easier to be angry. And the kill feels so good. And every kill gets you closer to the thing that killed your wife. I understand, believe me, I understand. But that need to kill does not absolve you of your responsibilities to those two young boys.”  
John nodded.  
“It’s one thing to die together in a fight, it’s another thing entirely to unnecessarily lose a soldier to frostbite and hypothermia. As their CO, it was your job to know a snow storm was on its way. It was your job to delay the mission. You chose not to do so and that’s because you got lost in the opportunity to kill. That is unacceptable. Do you understand Corporal Winchester?”  
“I understand.”  
“Good. I’m glad we had this talk. Here’s your coat.” MacGillis held the coat out to John, who took it, but didn’t put it on.  
“Hank’s gonna take the boys to Walmart for coats and gloves, and cough medicine and nonperishable foods.  
“That’s too much.” John said. “I won’t be able to pay you back.”  
“Think of it as an act of encouragement for you and your troops. Besides, it’s not our money. We eradicated a vampire nest a couple of weeks ago. And you know how much cash they carry.” MacGillis nodded gleefully.  
John’s mouth fell open. MacGillis snickered.  
“I’ll take that to mean you did not know. Good thing I mentioned it then. At any rate. We’re sending your boys on with Bobby. He said he wants to leave around six tonight.”  
“Excuse me?” John said, readying for am argument. MacGillis feigned confusion.  
“Oh, I must have made the wrong assumption: You don’t want in on Tanner?” MacGillis asked.  
“It occurred to me the boys might want in on this.” John said, thoughtfully. “It’ll be good training.”  
“This isn’t a job for Corporal Winchester. This is a job for Dean and Sam’s father.” MacGillis said. “There are times, when you have to be their father.”  
“Like I said, good training.” John insisted. MacGillis rolled his eyes, then grabbed John by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into the wall of the motel.  
“If Dean dies today. You gonna introduce yourself to the coroner as Dean’s drill sergeant? Because you don’t get to call yourself ‘dad’ when they’re dead and gone, if you refused the title when they were alive, you fucking idiot.”  
John inhaled. Then he pushed air out through his mouth.  
“They need to be tough. And it’s OK if they hate me.” John said. MacGillis put his face inches from John’s.  
“No. It’s not. That’s you copping out because you can’t figure out how to get your mind off yourself and what you want. And that’s all that really matters to you, right? Is you? And what you want? And what you need? All that tells me you walked those boys through the storm in jackets because you genuinely didn’t give one shit if they were freezing to death or not. And if that’s the case, then that demon you’re after has already won. I bet you are determined to beat that demon at his own game, so your troops are just as expendable as his are, is that it? Just so long as you get him?”  
John held up his hands in surrender.  
“OK…. I…you’re right. I didn’t think of it like that. I didn’t think.. I just …I get caught up. Every time I’m close to a kill, I think back to…One of those things is coming for my kid. I have to keep them safe.”  
“And freezing them to death is keeping them safe?!?” MacGillis yelled. John didn’t answer.  
“Don’t let that demon take your humanity away from you, John Winchester. Making them die in the trench with you completely nullifies your wife’s sacrifice. Don’t let that demon take her final act, _an act of absolute heroism, away from you.”_  
John groaned in stunned anguish. But MacGillis didn’t let up.  
“You really wanna live your life for that thing? You want him to have every moment of your life? When you’re eating tacos in the car, is it in his honor? When you take a shit in the woods, is it in his honor? When you buy toothpaste, is it in his honor? You’re just gonna hand your life to him like that? If that’s the case, you’re already dead. And so are your boys.”  
John ran a hand over his face and nodded.  
“I hear what you’re saying. It’s…it’s hard.” John admitted. “The rage comes over me, and I can’t think straight.”  
“Three year olds can’t control their anger. You’re a grown ass man and more; you’re an officer with soldiers under your command. Get. Your shit. Together.”  
MacGillis let John go and stepped back. Then he crossed his arms and watched John pace back and forth. John cleared his throat when he stepped back in front of MacGillis.  
Then he cleared it again.  
“When do we leave?” John croaked.  
Dean was pretty sure he was imagining things, because it sounded like his father, the superhero, the man without emotions, was trying not to cry.  
“0500 hours tomorrow.” MacGillis said. “We’ll swing by for you. Be ready to go.”  
“I will be, and uh, thanks.” John said. MacGillis slapped him on the shoulder.  
“Any time. Go see about your troops, Corporal.”  
“Sir, yes sir.” John said softly, and he turned and entered the motel, coat still in hand. MacGillis went to his truck and drove away.  
Dean got the chair back in its original position and had the tv volume back up by the time John entered the room. Dean made it a point to be casual when John walked in.  
“Give it up. I know you heard everything.” John said, with a lopsided smile.  
“Sorry.” Dean said. John set his coat down on the tiny dining table, grabbed a bottle of water and drank it.  
“Don’t be. Wasn’t anything I didn’t need to hear. You heard; Hank’s on his way. Go get Sammy and get your jackets on.” John said. Dean didn’t move just yet.  
“So, you’re going to go with MacGillis.” He asked. John nodded.  
“Sam, get in here.” John said. One minute later, Sam entered the room. His hair was askew, so he must’ve been napping.  
“Family meeting. I have just been reprimanded by a superior officer. And I deserved it.” John began.  
Sam looked at Dean, who gestured for him to listen. John nodded one time when both of his boys were looking at him. John wasn't sure, but it looked like Sam's ears grew when he heard the word 'reprimanded'.  
“Long story short is...I’ve been shirking my duties as your commanding officer.” John said. "There are certain responsibilities that come with command, and I haven’t been meeting them. Worse, I’ve been blaming Dean for my shortcomings.”  
John paused, and pulled his boys to him. Dean was pliant and immediately got comfortable. Sam did not.  
“I don’t know what happened up at Tanners place, and that is one hundred percent on me. You haven’t acted right since you left his place, and I’ve had my head too far up my own ass to ask you why. To make matters worse, you tried to tell me, and I refused to listen. I handed you to a fucking predator and left you there for weeks.”  
John stopped talking. If he said another word, he’d break down. But he never broke down when he called Sam selfish, or Dean idle headed, so he couldn’t break down now.  
“My only goal, is to keep you both alive long enough to grow up, and to teach you how to fight monsters. I’ve never put any thought into anything else.” John turned his attention back to Dean. “How did you make rent money last summer, Dean?” John asked.  
Dean didn’t answer. He couldn’t even look at his father. John hugged both boys tightly for a moment.  
“That’s my fault. There has never been a time when I didn’t know you can’t get a job. Everything that has happened to you, has been on my watch, and that’s unacceptable. I’ll do my best to give you the money you need to live. And if I can’t, I’ll take you to Bobby. How’s that sound?”  
Both boys nodded, unable to speak at the sight of a humbled John Winchester.  
“Speaking of which you’re going with Bobby tonight. I’m going with the guys to take care of Tanner.”  
Dean looked a little bit smug. Sam looked shocked.  
“What’re you gonna do to him?” Sam asked.  
“If I tell you it’ll make you an accessory.” John said quietly. Dean nodded with an gleeful grin.  
“How come you’re doing it now? We called you like, a million times.” Sam asked.  
John hugged Sam tighter.  
“Because I was a fucking moron with his head up his ass. No more radio silence. You have my permission to call when there’s a problem. If I can’t get to you, I’ll get someone who can.”  
“You’re not quite that stupid.” Dean mused.  
“Pretty damned close though.” John replied.  
“Yeah.” Sam snorted.  
“I can’t promise it will be like this forever. And I can’t promise it’ll be easy. But we’ve. I mean, I’ve got to re-establish good practices and standards. I can’t keeping asking for your best, and then give you the minimum in return.” John said.  
“No more treks through blizzards in windbreakers?” Sam asked. John bit his tongue, literally. Sam was a natural born instigator. But John wouldn’t be baited this time.  
“Part of my job is to properly kit you out, specific to missions. So, in answer to your question, no. No more snow storm treks in jackets.”  
“OK.” Sam said. He didn’t look convinced, but Sam was smart like that.  
“OK. Enough with the chick flick moment, as Dean would say. Get your shoes and jackets on.”  
“Where’re we going?” Sam asked.  
“Walmart.” Dean replied. “We’re getting coats and scarves and stuff.”  
Sam froze with his left foot halfway in his shoe and looked from Dean to John for confirmation.  
“Really? Can...can we get some books too?” Sam asked. John opened his mouth to admonish Sam about it, then changed his mind.  
“Maybe. Hank is footing the bill. And if he’s game, I’ll give you a limit of three. Three books Sam. No more.” John said. “So choose carefully.”  
“OK!” Sam said, with a dazed grin on his face. John rolled his eyes and ruffled his youngest boy’s hair.  
“So, maybe I could get a Walkman?” Dean asked. John shrugged.  
“Don’t know about that. We’ll see.”  
“You gonna come with us?” Sam asked.  
“You want me to?” John asked.  
“Duh.” Dean said.  
John snorted at Dean’s chutzpah. And if he was hugging the boy before he knew it, that was cool, and if Sam got wrapped up in it too? Even better.  
John figured he could be their father for a few hours. No reason why yellow eyes had to have every minute of their lives.  
And when they left the room to meet Hank outside, John didn’t take his coat.


End file.
